


Burt Hummel's Son's Wedding

by bluecinderella4



Category: Glee
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 15:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7808044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecinderella4/pseuds/bluecinderella4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the 1991 movie 'Father of the Bride': Burt does his best to come to terms with his only son getting married</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I previously posted this story (and its sequel) to FF and was really happy with them so I decided to post them on here too. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

_August, 2015_

Exhausted from the day's events, Burt Hummel sat in his favorite chair and surveyed the damage. There was no way he and Carole could clean this place by themselves, but he wasn't sure he had enough money for a cleaning crew.

The reception alone nearly bankrupted him.

Sitting back in his chair, he stared ahead. Despite him being the only person in the room, Burt had something to say and he was going to say it.

"Back in my day, a wedding wasn't such a big deal. Boy and girl meet, they fall in love, he buys a ring, she buys a dress, they say 'I do'." He leaned forward. "I was wrong. Nowadays, anyone can get married. And that's all well and good, more power to them, I fully support that; but that's not really what I'm wrong about. What I just described, that's _getting married_. A _wedding_ is an entirely different thing. I should know," he started taking his shoes off. "I got remarried in November 2010—to a woman—and my son and his glee club friends went crazy planning the whole thing. As soon as it was over I thought that was probably the last major wedding I'd ever be a part of.

"I was wrong about that too. What I didn't mention about my son is he's gay, and I don't love him any less for it. I just figured I'd never get to experience being the father of the bride because I had a son." He gestured to the room. "This mess? This mess is a result of my son's wedding reception. Today Kurt Hummel became Kurt Hummel-Anderson, er _Anderson-Hummel_ —they're doing it in alphabetical order. And him becoming Kurt Anderson-Hummel cost a hell of a lot more than it did when I bought this house after I married Kurt's mother—may she rest in peace. I don't mean to sound all mad, but I did the math and I still can't believe it. I truly hope it was all worth it in the end. Carole, my second wife, she recently told me that one day I'll look back on this with great affection and nostalgia," he emptied the contents of his shoes. "I hope so."

Once emptied, Burt went to put his shoes back on. "Parents might understand: a parent has a kid who loves and worships them. They hold their little hand in theirs and their kid looks up at them and tells them 'You're my hero'. If that doesn't melt your heart I dunno what does. Then that kid grows up and they're asking for body piercings and to be dropped off a block from school; they're wearing makeup and clothes that might not be considered appropriate. Then there's dating. It's weird; at that stage, a parent worries about their kid dating the wrong kinda guy or girl. But when the kid's an adult and making their own decisions, the parent worries about their kid meeting the _right_ kinda guy or girl."

He paused to reflect. "And that's the biggest fear of all. Because…then you lose him—or her, depending on what kinda kid you had," he quickly corrected. "Before you know it you're sitting in an empty house with rice on your tux wondering what happened." He sat back in his chair again. "I guess it started after a couple of Kurt's lady friends got married and asked me to officiate. That was back in Indiana in February, before government officially okayed gay marriage across the U.S in June. Around this time, my son had gotten back together with his boyfriend following another one of their breakups. Keep in mind, this was shortly after my heartbroken son vowed he wouldn't marry until he was thirty." Burt took another pause. "I guess that sort of set off the chain of events..."


	2. Italian Candy and a Surprise

_March 2_ _nd_ _, 2015_

Burt was at work when he got "the call". He had been too preoccupied that day worrying about his son's homecoming. Following Kurt's reconciliation with his boyfriend, Blaine, the couple decided to spend a week in Rome; Rome, _Italy_ of all places. Despite Burt's attitude towards that—and towards Blaine—it was Kurt's decision to go and as Kurt's father, Burt had to accept it (which he did with some reluctance).

Burt wasn't really too keen on flying either and made Carole promise to call him the second Kurt's plane landed. " _He landed_ ," was all Carole needed to say when Burt picked up the phone.

Letting out an excited whoop, he closed up shop early and stopped to pick up Kurt's favorite dinner from their favorite restaurant ( _Breadstix_ ). And though he wasn't much of a singer, Burt had his own jam session with Mellencamp's greatest hits as he drove to his home on Whitman Avenue.

"I'm home!" He called as he entered the house carrying dinner.

"Hi, Honey," Carole was headed for the living room carrying a vase of flowers. This didn't deter either one from leaning toward each other for a kiss. "I see you picked up dinner."

"Told you I would," Burt set the food on the dining room table. "Just enough for the four of us." He and his wife reunited in the hallway. "I'm so glad he's home."

"You know, I almost didn't recognize him when I picked him up."

"Did he dye his hair or change his wardrobe?"

"No, but he just looked…different."

"How do you mean?"

"I can't explain it. I mean of course he looked fabulous, but there was also this type of… _glow_ to him. Like the kind of glow a woman gets when she's pregnant."

"Are you trying to tell me my son's pregnant?'

"Kurt's pregnant?" Finn had come onto the scene. "Is that even possible?"

"It's a joke, Finn," Carole explained. "Go help set the table, it's time to eat."

"Cool," Finn did as he was instructed.

Burt went to the bottom of the stairs. "Kurt, dinner!"

"Coming!" Burt could practically hear his son smiling as he called down. Almost instantly, Kurt excitedly ran down the stairs, and into his father's arms for a hug. "Hi, Dad."

"Hey, Kurt." He let go to look at his son. Something did seem a little different. "I missed you like crazy, kid."

"I missed you too, Dad."

"How was Rome?"

"How 'bout I tell you over dinner?"

"Sounds good." Together, father and son went into the dining room.

"Hey Bro," Finn held out a chair for his brother, "thanks for the Italian candy."

"It was just candy, Finn," Kurt informed him.

"Candy from _Italy_ ," Finn reminded as he sat next to his brother. "That makes it Italian candy."

"He's got a point," Burt agreed as he helped pass out dinner. Once that was done, he sat across from his son and next to his wife. "Okay," Burt clapped his hands together, "before we eat I'm obligated to ask if we have a new topic for family discussion."

"Not that I know of, Hon," Carole told him. "Finn," she watched as her son scarfed down his food, "is there anything you'd like to say?" He shook his head no. "Okay, now please use a fork."

"Kurt?" Kurt looked from his plate to his father. "You got anything you want to talk about or can we hear about what happened in Rome?"

Kurt let out a breath he seemed to be holding. "Actually, yes, there is something we need to talk about. Something kind of important that I'm…I'm not quite sure how to tell you."

"Well whatever you have to say just say it."

"Yeah," was what Finn was trying to say with his mouth full of food.

"Chew your food, Finn," Kurt still felt the need to sass his brother. Afterwards, he took a deep breath and continued with what he had to discuss. "While Blaine and I were sightseeing—come to think of, this happened at the Trevi fountain—anyway, we were talking about our relationship. How we seem to mature during our time apart, but then always find our way back to one another. So then Blaine said 'no matter what, I always come back to you…and that's how I want it to be for the rest of our lives'."

Burt's eyes went wide as Carole's jaw nearly hit the table. Taking a second to form words, Carole's voice raised a little in pitch. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Finn, however, was confused. "I'm confused; what did he say?"

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle. "That was Blaine's way of proposing. I'm engaged." He let out an excited laugh. "I'M ENGAGED!"

"Wow! That's cool, Kurt!"

Carole bounded out of her seat and over to her stepson. "Oh Kurt, I'm so happy for you!" She squeezed him tightly. "Ooh, can I see the ring?"

"We don't have one yet," Kurt confessed to Carole's slight disappointment. "He wanted to come back to Ohio and take me to my favorite jewelry store so I could pick out my own ring. What can I say; the man knows me."

"Well congratulations again," Carole went back to her seat. "Have you two set a date?"

"I've always dreamed of having a summer wedding; but I'll still need some time to get ready for said wedding. We figured we'd get married in August, the last month of summer."

"I've always wanted to plan a wedding. Can I help plan it?" Carole quickly shut up. "I'm sorry, I got excited. Everything is totally your call; I can understand if you don't want my help or anything and I fully support whatever decisions you make."

"Blaine and I were thinking of asking Rachel, but I'm sure she'd let you help."

Finn shot his stepbrother a skeptic look. "You sure it's a good idea asking _Rachel_ to plan your gay wedding?"

"You don't have to put the word 'gay' in front of wedding Finn; it's just a wedding." Kurt looked to Burt, who had stayed silent throughout this whole thing. "Dad?"

Burt seemed to be in some sort of daze. "I'm sorry, what?"

Instead of seeing his grown up son across from him, Burt was looking at a much, much younger version of his little boy. " _Did you hear me, Daddy? I'm getting married! I'm getting married, Daddy_!"

Adult Kurt watched his father blink back into reality. "Dad?" Burt looked at his son. "Did you hear me, Dad? I'm getting married."

Burt cleared his throat. "I uh…I heard." He leaned back in his seat. "I just don't understand. I thought you were going to wait until you were thirty to get married."

"The last time I said that I was upset that Blaine and I broke up. You don't always mean what you say when you're heartbroken."

"Heartbroken, right? By who, again?"

"Everything's different between us now, Dad!"

"How?"

"I can't really explain it, but he's changed."

"Uh-huh, sure."

Kurt tried to keep cool. "Why are you acting like this? I thought you were okay with me being gay?"

"The issue isn't you, it's the guy you're marrying! The one who you can't seem to sustain a relationship with."

"We've both changed, we're adults now!"

"You're _barely_ adults! You're too young to get married! Marriage is a huge commitment, a big decision. You don't just do it because you think you're in love with someone."

"But I _know_ I'm in love with him! I was miserable when we weren't together and he felt the same without me! I want to marry Blaine; he's the only one I can see myself marrying." His eyes narrowed toward Burt. "I'm not asking for your permission, Burt." This made Burt's eyes widen. "I'm an adult, I make my own decisions, and I've decided to marry Blaine." Burt didn't know what to say in response. "All you ever want was for me to be happy. Being with Blaine makes me happy. I am going to marry him."

"Seems as though you've already made up your mind beforehand," Burt stared at his food. "I would, however, appreciate it if you didn't call me by my first name; I am still your father."

"That's all you have to say?"

"What else do you want me to say, Kurt?"

Throwing his napkin aside, Kurt angrily rose from his seat. "I just want your approval, Dad. Your blessing matters the most to me and Blaine, but it seems we don't have it." With that, he stormed out of the kitchen. Stunned by what happened, Finn avoided any eye contact and went back to his meal.

Carole smacked her husband's arm. "Ow!" Burt rubbed the sore spot on his arm. "What was that for?"

"I know you're upset with what Blaine's done in the past," Carole began, "but can you attempt to look past that for your son's sake? He is marrying him and all he wants is for you to accept that. Now go apologize to your son."

"It's not like I overreacted or anything. I thought I was completely in character."

"Burt."

"Fine," Burt pushed his chair back and went to the basement where he knew Kurt would be sitting at his sewing machine. "Hey." Kurt didn't acknowledge him. "Okay, I'll start talking," he found a seat. "Yes, you are an adult and you must make your own decisions from now on; I can respect that. I want your happiness above anything else and if getting married makes you happy, I want that for you. It's just…you're the most important person in my life and I love you more than anything"

Kurt turned to face his father. "Would you give your approval if I wasn't marrying Blaine?" Burt nodded. "I thought you liked Blaine."

"He's hurt you so many times, Kurt. I can't stand seeing you hurt, especially when he's the cause of it." Kurt didn't reply. "But if you say he's changed, I suppose I can give him another chance."

"Does that mean we have your blessing?"

Burt sat back in his seat. "If he proposed to you, doesn't that technically make you the bride?"

Kurt raised his eyebrow in confusion. "I'm not sure where you're going with this."

"Isn't the groom supposed to ask the bride's father for the blessing?" This got Kurt to let out a laugh. "Let me talk to the two of you together and I'll give you my blessing."

Kurt hugged his father. "Thanks, Dad." He was the first to pull away. "And he's coming over in the next half hour anyway."

"Why doesn't this surprise me?"

"He would've came home with me, but we decided to tell our parents on our own."

"I'm sorry I acted the way I acted. I just have a hard time trusting him after what he's done to you before."

"He has changed, Dad."

"If you say so, I'll believe it. Now go on and eat before your dinner gets cold."

Kurt kissed his father's cheek. "Congratulations Dad: you're the father of the bride."

"Does that mean I have to pay for everything?"

"Dad!"


	3. The Fast and the Father

Burt glanced at his watch and then up the stairs. "Does Kurt really need to take this long to get ready?"

"It is a big deal for him, Hon," Carole, meanwhile, was watching out the window.

"We've seen Blaine before, Carole; we know what to expect."

"But this time we'll be seeing him as Kurt's _fiancée_." She gave an excited squeal. "Oh, I'm so excited." She resumed her watching. "Burt!" she flailed her hand as a gesture for Burt to join her at the window. "Burt, I think this is him."

Burt joined his wife at the window, watching as a car parked in front of their house. "The speed limit's fifteen; he was doing twenty. Twenty-five tops."

Carole rolled her eyes before looking back at the window. Despite it being dark, they could see Blaine's figure smoothing his outfit/blazer and hair as if he were more nervous than Burt and Carole (which, to be fair, he might have been). As Blaine approached the front door, Burt and Carole hurried away from the window. "We should try to make him think we weren't waiting," Carole whispered as if she was divulging top secret information. She waited for Blaine to knock twice before answering the door. "Hello Blaine!"

"Hi, Carole," Burt could hear Blaine greet. "Is it okay if I still call you Carole?"

"Of course, of course. Come on in," she stepped aside so that Blaine could enter.

As soon as he was inside, he turned to Burt. "Hi Burt."

 _Preppy little pissant didn't even bother asking if he could call me that_. Burt forced a smile. "Hello Blaine."

"Oh, sorry, it's okay if I call you Burt, right?" Burt nodded. "Sorry, I guess I'm kinda nervous. Sure I've seen you guys a lot, but it's different this time. This time I'm not meeting you as Kurt's friend, but rather as your future son-in-law. How do you make that transition?"

"In our case, not very slowly."

"Hey you," everyone turned to see Kurt make his way down the stairs wearing a blue polo shirt and beige slacks. Blaine, wearing a goofy, lovestruck smile, met his fiancee at the bottom of the stairs where they then proceeded to kiss each other—a gesture that made Carole swoon and Burt cringe.

"Ahem!" Burt rather loudly cleared his throat to get attention. "Why don't we all head to the living room so we can...talk and what not."

"Good idea," Kurt clasped onto Blaine's hand and together they went to the living room. "Hey, will Finn be joining us this evening?"

"It's Puck's last night in town and Finn's spending it with him," Carole explained.

"Aw," Kurt seemed a little bummed. "Well Finn seems pretty cool with this; he doesn't really have to be here."

"Well, I for one am also cool with this. I was so excited to hear that the two of you are finally getting married. Heck, I even asked to help plan your wedding."

"That's very nice of you Carole, but we thought we'd ask Rachel to plan it," Blaine politely declined her offer. "She was a big help in planning your wedding and Brittany and Santana's wedding-"

"And even her own almost-wedding," Kurt interrupted.

"That's right! God that seemed like an eternity ago," Blaine gave a wistful sigh. "Anyway we thought we'd let her captain the Klaine wedding."

Everyone but Burt got the joke. "I'm sorry, I thought your last name was _Anderson_?"

"Klaine is a portmanteau of Kurt and my first names."

"A what now?"

"The names Kurt and Blaine combine to form the name _Klaine_ ," Kurt simplified this for his father. "Klaine is our ship name."

"Since when do you have a boat?"

Kurt was embarrassed for his father. "There is still so much I have to teach you."

"So," Carole decided to instigate conversation, "now that we're all together: what is there for us to talk about? We know how you two met, we know your history, we have an idea of what we want to do for a wedding, and, of course, we know you Blaine." Burt couldn't help but focus on Blaine's hand at Kurt's thigh as his wife spoke. "I'm not sure why we're even here."

"Well Blaine and I decided when we got back from Rome we would each tell our parents and then meet up later with both sets of parents together to make sure we had their blessing."

"After we're done here, I'm going to take Blaine to see my Mom where we'll Skype with my brother Cooper and make sure we have their blessing."

"Are you not on speaking terms with your father?" Carole inquired.

"No, I am not. While Burt is a loving, caring, accepting father," why did Burt feel like Blaine was sucking up to him, "my father has yet to come to terms with my sexuality and I sincerely doubt he will."

"Well that's just..." Carole couldn't even finish that statement. "...I don't know if I can think of a word that's worse than awful."

"His opinion really doesn't matter to me anyway. Plus I'm pretty sure Mom and Cooper will be excited. Honestly, it's yours and Burt's that matters most to us." Carole put her hand over her heart and tried to hold back the tears.

"You know you mean so much more than just a stepmother to me," Kurt told her. "I want to get the okay from the people who matter to me. The people I love."

Carole couldn't stop the tears from coming. "Yes!" she hugged her stepson and his fiancee. Pulling away, she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You had my blessing the moment I heard you were engaged."

"It's Dad that's the hard sell."

Blaine turned to Burt. "Burt, I know I've hurt Kurt before; but I need you to believe me when I say I'm never going to do that again. I've known for the longest time that Kurt is the man I wanted to marry and I'll be damned if I keep letting him get away from me. I love your son," he squeezed Kurt's hand, "and I always will." Touched, Carole sniffled again.

"The uh..." Burt adjusted himself in his seat, "...the things you've done in the past does make it a little hard for me to trust you. Don't get me wrong, I do like you. Do I think this is a good idea?" He could see Kurt was to keep a positive demeanor. "Well, personally, I think you should wait a little longer." He could tell his son looked a little hurt. "But whenever you decide to tie the knot, you have my blessing." Kurt let out a high pitched cry and ran into his father's arms as Carole also cried in the background. "Okay, okay, the crying isn't necessary."

"Sorry," Kurt used his index fingers to clean his tears. "I'm just really happy."

Blaine shook Burt's hand. "Thank you, Burt."

Burt shrugged. "All I really want is for my son to be happy. If this makes him happy, then I'm fine with it."

"I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure Kurt stays happy."

"I'll hold you to that promise."

Kurt tapped Blaine on the shoulder. "We should probably get going if we wanna catch your brother on Skype."

"You know Kurt, it's a little chilly out. You should probably wear a jacket."

"It's okay, Dad; I'm fine."

"You know Baby, it is kinda cold out," Blaine warned his fiancee.

"Is it really?" Blaine nodded. "Thanks Sweetie, I'll get my jacket," Kurt kissed Blaine's cheek and went to fetch his jacket while a dumbfounded Burt tried not to look stung. "Guys, don't wait up for me; Blaine and are probably gonna stop at the Lima Bean later."

"Alright, you guys have fun," Carole gave them each a hug.

 _Not too much fun_. Burt hugged his son before awkwardly shaking Blaine's hand. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" Kurt nodded. "Drive carefully." Blaine and Kurt headed for the door. "And don't forget to fasten your condom." It wasn't until after it was said that Burt realized his gaffe.

"DAD!"

"BURT!"

"SEATBELT!" Burt corrected himself. "I meant seatbelt."

"Go on Kurt, I'm going to put your father to bed," Carole helped usher them out. "Bye you guys."

"Bye," Burt watched as his son left with his fiancee. He waited until Carole closed the door before saying, "This isn't gonna last."

"Really, Burt?"

"I give them two, three months top before Blaine does something stupid or hurtful and a heartbroken Kurt comes crying back to us."

"You seem to be the only person who refuses to believe Blaine has changed."

"He doesn't exactly have the best track record with my son."

"Well I always knew the two of them were destined to end up together and I couldn't be more happy."

"And Blaine's speeches couldn't have been more rehearsed. It's like he memorized a book: ' _How to Butter Up Your Future In-Laws'_."

"I thought he was totally sincere."

"He was clearly kissing our asses."

Carole pointed up the stairs. "That's it; to bed with you, Burt Hummel."

"Am I the only one who saw the way he was touching my son's thigh?"

"They're in love; they can't keep their hands off each other."

"I don't even touch you like that!"

"Believe me, I know."

"Yeah, but are you sure we know Blaine; like _really_ know Blaine. Because I swear I saw that exact face on some internet mug shot."

Now a glare came with the point. "Bed!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Burt trudged up the stairs and into his bedroom.

As he was readying to get into bed, he felt Carole wrap her arms around his waist. "You need to relax."

"I just don't want to see my son get hurt again."

She kissed his neck. "Do you know how much I love you when you're in your 'Dad' mode?"

"Not as much as you love me in my 'Husband' mode?"

This made her giggle. "But seriously, you have to fully come to terms with this if you want to really ensure Kurt's happiness."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's probably gonna take a while though."

"You'll come around," Carole began massaging his back, much to his pleasure. "And for the record: I do love you more in 'Husband' mode."


	4. In-Lawed Over Brunch

"Ooh," Carole admired the string of large houses/mansions as they drove toward Blaine's house two days later, "aren't these houses nice?"

"They all look the same," Burt observed. "I get that all these people are rich, but can't they have a little variety with their houses?" Carole rolled her eyes at him. "Well they can clearly afford it." They didn't say anything for a minute. "How much you wanna bet Blaine's mom lives in the one shack in the middle of all these mansions?"

"Burt, please."

"And why are we going out to _brunch_? I mean, what the hell is brunch anyway?"

"A meal between breakfast and lunch."

"So it's another one of those name combo things?"

"Yes, and as an add-on to your question: fancy, well-to-do people usually do brunches."

"Why?"

"Because Blaine's mother invited us so that our sons' families can meet their future in-laws. Does that answer your question?"

"I don't like that term 'in-laws'; it sounds like we're legally bound to those people. I don't know if I feel comfortable being 'in-lawed'."

"Burt, that's not even a real term."

"Well if people can keep combining names, I can make up verbs."

"Nice mood, Burt."

"What; I'm in a good mood."

Carole groaned at him before the GPS alerted them they were nearing their destination. "I think...yep, this one's it." They drove up to the large gate at the biggest house on the block. "Nice shack, huh?"

"Worse; it's the biggest house in the neighborhood. This means we're going to be related to snobs."

Carole rolled her eyes again as the gate opened. They drove their car inside and parked in the large driveway. Stepping out of the car, Burt nervously began fiddling with his tie. "Let me," Carole adjusted the tie before taking off his baseball cap and putting it in her purse. "There; now you look very handsome."

"Should I matter how I look? We're not here to win their approval." Burt used one of the knockers on the front door to knock. "And you're the one who changed her outfit three times."

"Oh, that's rich coming from the man who tried on five different shirts."

"Two."

"Yeah right."

"Yeah, right. Two long-sleeves and two-short sleeves."

The front door practically flew open after that. Standing on their other side in a low-cut green dress was Blaine's mother. "Hi!" she greeted each of them with an enthusiastic hug. "You must be Burt and Carole. I'm Pam; welcome to our home."

"Pam Anderson? Like the _Baywatch_ lady?"

Pam laughed at this. "You just come right out with it, don't you Burt? Yes, I coincidentally share my name with another buxom beauty who looks beautiful in a bikini," she howled with laughter and took a while to calm herself. "Sorry if I seem a little over-anxious. I was so nervous about our little meet and greet that I helped myself to a few midday Margaritas from the bar. Oh," she led them to said bar where an assortment of Margaritas, Cocktails, Martinis, and other various boozes rested on the counter, "feel free to help yourself to as much as you like. This is a judgment-free zone. If you'll follow me, we'll have brunch in here," they passed a maid on the way to a lounge area where an attractive, brown-haired boy was sitting at a restaurant style table. "Cooper, we have guests."

Cooper stood up and greeted the guests with hearty handshakes. "Burt and Carole, hi. Pleased to meet you."

Carole was instantly smitten. "Oh my, you're that handsome guy from credit rating commercial."

He flashed a smile. "Guilty. You'll also be seeing this handsome face in the upcoming Michael Bay movie as well."

"Wow," Burt was trying to act impressed, but wasn't doing a good job due to his lack of acting skills.

"Guess you're not a Michael Bay fan?"

"No! No, I like his one movie with the..." Burt tried to think of a Michael Bay movie, "...robots."

"Can't fault you there. His _Transformers_ films are a very successful franchise."

 _Holy cow, I was right?_ "Yep."

Potential awkwardness was soon disrupted by a series of barks. Said barks belonged to two vicious looking Doberman Pinschers. "Here's the rest of our family," Pam introduced as the dogs got a little closer. "They make look vicious, but they're really such darling little angels." She noticed Burt was a little tense. "Really, they're harmless. As long as you're relaxed, they're relaxed."

Burt tried to relax as he went to pet a dog. "Hi puppy, puppy, puppy. Who's a good-" one of the Dobermans angrily growled at Burt, causing Burt to jump back.

"RELEASE!" as soon as had Pam said that, the dogs left. "Now why don't we all sit down?" She guided them to the table. "I'm surprised that given how long the boys have known each other we haven't actually met."

"I first met Kurt when I taught an acting class at his school," Cooper explained. "It was totally obvious then that my brother was enamored with him, so this marriage comes as no surprise to me."

"I was introduced to Kurt a few times when Blaine brought him over to the house; but I didn't really get to know him until Rome. I don't know if the boys told you, but I was originally planning on going to Rome for a fashion conference and Blaine asked if they could fly with me because he was planning on proposing to Kurt there," she took a sip of the Margarita that had already been placed on the table before she sat down. "So honestly, I wasn't surprised by this engagement either."

"That makes three of us," Carole noted. "I mean they had been together for so long that I thought this was all inevitable."

Burt could feel the three pairs of eyes turn to him. "Well...I was a little surprised. One of my first thoughts was they're too young."

"Really?" Pam started to do math. "Well to be fair, I was a year older than Blaine is now when I married his father."

"You were nineteen when you married Dad," Cooper corrected. "You were Blaine's age when I was born."

"Oh no, you're right, you're right." Another sip. "Well it's not like we're going to have any say in it no matter how we feel. The boys are legally adults, they're in love, and who are we to stop them from making their own adult decisions.

 _No say so?_ Burt was thinking. _No, we don't need any say so. Who are we to stop them. It's not like we're their_ parents _or anything_.

Burt was about to vocalize his thoughts when Pam continued with, "Well sooner or later you have to let your kids go and hope you brought 'em up right."

"And Mom and Dad did hire the best nannies to do the job," Cooper's playful barb earned a laugh from the ladies. "Now I think I'd like to make a toast," the four of them lifted their glasses. "To Blaine, Kurt, and their long and happy marriage."

"Cheers," they all clinked their glasses together and drank.

Burt was still drinking when Pam added, "And may their babies be as cute as they are." This made Burt choke on his drink. Some of the glass' contents dripping down his shirt. "Are you alright, Burt?"

He was still hacking as he set his glass down. "Yeah, but," he stood up, "I should probably clean this off. Could you tell me where the bathroom is?"

"Well the guest bathroom down here is being remodeled." _Guest bathroom?_ "But we have another one at the top of the stairs." _Of course they do_. "I believe it's the seventh door on the left."

"Second?"

" _Seventh._ "

"Seventh," Cooper nodded in agreement.

" _Seventh_?" Burt had muttered to himself before going upstairs. He hurried up the stairs and to the seventh door on the left. "Seventh," he uttered in disbelief as he turned on the faucet and reached for a nearby hand-towel. As he cleaned his shirt, he couldn't help but notice the (expensive looking) center mirror's connected medicine cabinet was slightly ajar. Burt made sure the coast was clear before he began to snoop. _No illegal substances here_. Still curious, he went over to the side of the centered mirror to peek inside that cabinet...

...only to find it wasn't a cabinet and he had just pulled a side mirror off of the wall. Frantically, he put it back; adjusting it so that it looked untouched—even though his fingerprints were smudged all over it.

Then he quickly got out of the bathroom. As he headed downstairs, he noticed another door was ajar. "Do these people know how to close doors?" he asked to himself as he snuck into the room.

The room was quickly determined to be a very chic office (most likely Pam's). Looking around, he didn't see anything odd/unusual/suspicious. Then he inched closer to the desk. Sitting on the desk was a bankbook. He knew he shouldn't look, but his curiosity overpowered him. As he opened to the first page, he heard approaching footsteps and quickly ducked under the desk. The footsteps belonged to the same maid from earlier who was just making her way down the hall. But Burt didn't notice that...

...because he was face to face with a growling Doberman. "I'm leaving," he whispered to the angry looking dog. "I'm relaxed, and I'm leaving." He made sure it was okay to come out before crawling out from under the desk...

...only to be met by the second Doberman. "Okay," he tried to appear relaxed as he thought back to earlier. "What did she say to make you guys leave?" His panicked mind was blank. "Relax!" that did nothing. "Re...lent! Re...verse!" nothing was working and the dogs just seemed to be getting angrier. Burt backed against the wall beside a large window. He looked out the window. Waiting below were some large flower beds and a trellis leaning against the outside wall. He felt he didn't have time to make up his mind and began climbing out the window.

...

"I hope Burt didn't get lost up there," Cooper had jested to the ladies as they ate.

"He'll be fine," Carole assured. Soon after, she seemed to be the only one to hear a nearby noise. Because she was seated where she could see, she caught a glimpse of the lower half of her husband's body dangling from a trellis. Hoping to keep the Andersons from noticing this, she diverted her attention to some nearby artwork. "I couldn't help but admire that sculpture," she lied. "Where did you get it?" The others stared at the sculpture and talked as a frustrated Carole watched her husband land outside. They made eye contact and communicated through their expressions and body language. "Is that a fact?" Carole asked when Pam and Cooper looked toward her.

"Yeah, but I was telling Mom she should put it in the garden," Carole was trying not to panic as Cooper looked outside the window he could also see out of, but thankfully Burt had stepped out of view and ran toward their pool. By this point, Burt was in Carole's direct line of vision (and thankfully behind Cooper's).

It was also by this point that Burt realized he was still holding Pam's bankbook. Instead of doing a rational thing like putting it in his pocket, quietly coming back in the house and taking it upstairs, and then joining everyone for brunch as if nothing happened; Burt tried to throw it at the nearest open window. However, he missed, and the bankbook bounced back down and landed in the pool.

Carole was watching this happen. "And that painting? Is that a real Monet?"

" _Manet_ ," Pam corrected, "and yes it is actually."

While Pam went into the painting's detail, Burt had gotten one of those pool cleaning nets that rested outside of the pool house. He didn't have time to think about them having a pool house as he used the net to try and get the book.

"It's been a while," Cooper noted. "Maybe one of us should check on Burt; make sure he's okay."

"No, no," Carole assured as she tried to keep her eyes from bugging out.

"Almost..." Burt had almost gotten the book when his two new friends appeared from both sides of the backyard. Now they had considered Burt a sort of threat and charged after him. Burt frantically tried to reach the bankbook before the dogs made it over to him. "What the hell was that word?" He began losing his balance as the dogs got closer. "RELEASE!" he remembered as he fell into the pool.

This time everyone heard the splash. Cooper, the first one up, unlocked the sliding glass door and hurried outside with Pam and Carole following. The Dobermans leaving in another direction. "Burt?"

Still in the pool, Burt waved to them. "Hi guys!" Everyone was giving him weird looks as he got out of the pool, the bankbook hidden in his grasp.

"If you wanted to go for a swim, we have a pool inside."

 _Figures_. "No actually I uh...I came out for some air. Figured I'd dip my feet in the water." The dry people looked down to the wet shoes still on his feet. "I kinda lost my balance before I could get my shoes off." He gave an awkward laugh. "I guess I should probably go and dry off now."

"That's probably a good idea," Pam agreed as Carole went over to Burt.

"I think it's best if I go with you this time, Hon," Carole was disguising her ire with a sweet tone. "You know; make sure you get dry."

Burt wasn't going to argue with that. "I think that's probably a good idea."


	5. Cakes at The Steak Pit

Kurt blew out a sigh of relief. "I'm so relieved to hear it went well. To me, that makes the wedding all the more official. It's like now we can actually start planning and all that jazz." Finn nodded in agreement as he bit down on his sloppy joe. "Finn talked to his girlfriend and she's coming over tomorrow to discuss what we had in mind." Finn gave the thumbs up as he chewed. "Honestly, you need to improve your eating habits," Kurt passed his stepbrother a napkin. "Rachel has given herself the title of 'wedding coordinator' and we have asked Mercedes to be like an assistant. I mean Mercedes has been my best friend forever and besides Blaine, she knows me best."

"But Mercedes and Rachel each have a different sense of style, don't they?" Carole asked as she passed another napkin to her son.

"True, but Rachel is more detailed, more organized, and a complete perfectionist. Plus she and Mercedes can compromise and unite together for the sake of someone else or for their team, and I for one would love to see what they can do for me." The Hudson-Hummels were distracted when they heard the back door open and Blaine came out of the house. "You made it!" Kurt got up to kiss his fiancee.

"Sorry for being tardy to the party," Blaine apologized as he sat next to Kurt. "You don't mind that I came in without knocking?"

Before Burt could say "yes", Carole waved Blaine off with, "No, it's fine. You're practically family anyway."

Blaine smiled. "I just came from my Mom's and," he pulled a piece of paper from his blazer pocket, "I have a list of our immediate family members who will be coming to the wedding." He passed the paper to Carole, who then looked it over with Burt.

 _You have got to be kidding!_ "That's uh..." Burt didn't know what to say, "...what are these letters next to-"

"State abbreviations. A good chunk of relatives live throughout Ohio, but there are aunts, uncles, and cousins scattered across the U.S. Last I checked there were only nine."

"Nine of your relatives are going to need plane tickets to and from Ohio?"

"Ten actually. My Aunt Nora is a little..." he made a wide gesture and puffed his cheeks which Finn chuckled at, "...so she needs two seats."

"At least I can hope we have the wedding in Ohio," Kurt confessed. "The state doesn't allow same-sex marriage yet—that's why Brittany and Santana married in Indiana. We've decided to invite friends and family to a ceremony that may not exactly be legal, but is still a kind of an official-ish ceremony and then a big reception afterwards. If it's not legal, then for our honeymoon, Blaine and I will be flying somewhere where same-sex marriage is legal, get legally married, and then spend our honeymoon there."

"Probably in Provincetown, Massachusetts."

Kurt let out an excited gasp. "Yes!" He hugged Blaine. "You get me!"

"But where are we gonna have the ceremony?" Finn inquired.

"We're open to suggestions."

"Since it's a summer wedding; you should probably have it at the beach. Then we can spend the reception there too. Go swimming, have a picnic, play volleyball, all that good stuff."

"I don't think a beach wedding is their style," Carole disagreed. "I think you should have your wedding close to where you have the reception. Did you have any place in mind?"

"Yes, actually," Burt noticed his son reach for Blaine's hand under the table before the couple looked at the Burt and Carole, "Blaine and I want to have our reception here at the house." Carole put her hand over her heart and tried not to cry. "That is okay, right?" She enthusiastically nodded. "Dad?"

"Does seem cheaper than renting out a VFW hall or something," Burt observed. "I'm fine with it." Kurt and Blaine had their own celebration. "Hey, I just had an idea where we can have the ceremony!"

"Really?"

"It's a decent sized place I'm sure will accommodate everyone."

"Where?"

"I'm sure if I sweet talk the owner, I can get us a discount and we can have the wedding at one of our favorite restaurants."

" _Breadstix_?"

"Better," he took a dramatic pause, " _The Steak Pit._ " Kurt and Carole groaned at this. "What?"

"I don't think you'd want the word 'pit' on a wedding invitation, Burt," Finn noted.

"Maybe we should discuss that part with Rachel," Kurt was trying to hide his disdain. "She can probably help decide whether we should get married indoors or outdoors. At least we're all in agreement that we'll have the reception here?" that came out like a question.

"Sure," Burt agreed. "We can get some picnic tables and crepe paper and balloons, and I'll make my famous guacamole." He noticed the looks he was getting. "What?"

Carole stood up. "If you'll excuse us: Burt and I are going to have a little talk in the kitchen."

"We are?" she narrowed her eyes at him. "I mean, coming Dear," he followed Carole into the house. When they went into the kitchen, Carole smacked him in the arm. "Hey!"

"What was that all about? Picnic tables, crepe paper, balloons? It's a wedding reception not a fourth of July party or some get-together over barbecue. Why aren't you taking any of this seriously?"

"I am taking this seriously! They wanted suggestions, I was suggesting. You didn't get this upset when your son suggested a beach wedding. I mean, do we even have beaches in Ohio?"

"Do you realize how crazy you've been acting since Kurt announced his engagement?"

"Crazy? Carole, I have been acting like any normal, red-blooded American dad would."

"Normal? Right. Should I remind you of this afternoon's events at the Anderson house? Or you suggesting _The Steak Pit_ for a wedding ceremony? And don't me get started on those FBI most wanted list searches I've seen on your laptop." Burt didn't say anything. "A wedding is a big deal and you don't seem to get that." Again, no response. "And if there's an issue with money, then I'm sure Pam will-"

"Are you saying we can't provide for our kid's wedding?"

"It's just a suggestion."

"I'm a former US congressman who runs his own business; I can afford to give my son a proper wedding and dammit that's what I'm gonna do!"

"Men and their pride," Carole mumbled to herself once her husband had left.

...

Rachel had scheduled their meeting like an official appointment and told them she would be there at noon the following day. That's why it wasn't much of a surprise when there was a knock at the door at noon exactly. Burt was surprised, however, to see Rachel and Mercedes each at their door with their hands full of binders and magazines. They gave a standard "Hello" greeting before hurrying to the dining room where Kurt and Carole were already waiting—Carole was filling in for an absent Blaine and was going to offer any opinions or advice. Dropping the binders to the table, Burt noticed the front of Rachel's top binder read 'Kurt & Blaine's Wedding' in glittery arts and crafts letters and had a heart in lieu of the ampersand. The binders and magazines also looked worn out and used as if they were pre-prepared for the titular occasion.

Was Burt seriously the last to know about this wedding?

"You were in total agreement for a Saturday summer wedding in August," Rachel was saying. "At first I was just..." she made one of her frantic faces, "...because that only gives us five months to plan this and that eliminated half of my plans." _Half_? The binder in front of Rachel was struggling to stay closed it had so much crap in it. Exactly how much did she get rid of? "So the first thing we need to decide is the Saturday so that I can make all the reservations and what not."

"I actually suggested one of the first Saturdays," Mercedes inputted her opinion. "That's either the first or the eighth of August. This way you can get married, go on your honeymoon, and hopefully have some time to enjoy whatever's left of summer."

"And I suggested the later days because I know how you and Blaine love the end of the summertime."

Carole was looking at the calendar on the phone. "Why don't you meet in the middle? The fifteenth is a Saturday. It's not too late, not too early, and it may give everyone time to fly out to Ohio."

"Well actually," it sounded like Kurt had something different in mind, "Blaine and I met on the ninth of November; so we thought it'd be more romantic to get married on the ninth of August."

While Carole and Mercedes swooned at that, Rachel didn't seem too pleased. "That's a Sunday."

"Which is an easily accessible day of the week to host an event people can attend. People almost always book up Saturdays anyway. Plus you know the old adage where _'Saturday's child works hard for a living_ ' but _'Sunday's child is good, and blithe, and bonny, and gay'_ —granted, gay meaning 'happy' back in those days. Sunday is the day of rest and relaxation, a day of fun, and it happens to be the day of the week that the ninth is on."

"Kurt-"

"It's my wedding and Blaine and I want it on the ninth." Burt couldn't help but smile with pride when Kurt stood firm to Rachel.

"Okay," Rachel tried not to look stung, "I can work with that," she practically tore some pages out of her binder.

Leave it to Mercedes to bring back focus. "Why don't we pick the cake first?"

"Yes!" Happy Rachel was back. "I mean the cake pretty much determines what kind of wedding you'll be having." As she and Mercedes went through their magazines, Burt stood in the corner mouthing, "the cake?" They might as well have been speaking a foreign language to him. "Mercedes and I each went through these magazines and printed internet sites trying to decide which one might be the most perfect, but this is the only one we could agree on," she slid the magazine with the bookmarked page of a cake towards Kurt and Carole. Curious, Burt stood over them and looked at the page where the cake wasn't the main thing to catch his attention.

Kurt gasped in excitement. "Oh, I love this!"

"We knew you would."

"Did I read that right?" Burt questioned. "This cake costs $1800?"

"That's actually a very reasonable price for a cake of that magnitude."

"My first car didn't cost this much. A cake is just sugar, flour, a tub of frosting, and some other ingredients I'm probably missing because I don't exactly know what goes into a cake. I mean, I could buy enough cake making supplies to last a year with $1800."

"You don't bake cakes, Dad," Kurt pointed out with snark.

"For less than $1800, I can learn."

"I think Rachel has a point. Wedding cakes are freakishly expensive, and that's not including custom things you want on the cake. That right there is what it's going to cost total to make the cake look like the way it's advertised, to choose what flavors it'll be, customize it, and deliver it on the wedding day. It's my wedding and this is the cake I want." This time Kurt's steadfast attitude didn't exactly make Burt smile with pride.

"So we have the date and the cake," Rachel jotted this down in her personalized notebook (also titled ' _Kurt & Blaine's Wedding'_ with the heart between Kurt and Blaine). "Now I suggest we choose our color scheme," she reached for another binder.

Burt came to the conclusion that he would really have no say in the planning. Without saying a word, he made his way into the kitchen and took a beer. _Might as well enjoy my favorite beer while I can_ , he thought. _I doubt I'll be able to enjoy 'em after I sell all my internal organs to pay for this wedding._


	6. Just an Idea

"No," it wasn't that long into April and Burt was once again being vocal with another wedding "issue". This time, it had to do with the number of people who would be attending. Carole had given him a final head count, and Burt wasn't exactly too thrilled. "Do you know how much it'll cost to host this many people at the reception? Hell," he gestured to himself, his wife, and their sons, "it'll cost $1000 just for us to show up at _our own house_!" He took his seat at the table. "We are not getting up from this table until we cut the guest list down to the bare minimum." Finn raised his hand as if he were in school. "Yes, Finn."

"Is it cool if I use the bathroom first?" Burt nodded. "Be right back," he ran from the table and toward the bathroom.

"Let's try and keep it a hundred or under."

"Preferably under, right?" Kurt asked with an edge to his voice.

"Kurt, I want to give you the best wedding I can; but it'll have more meaning if you only invite the people who matter to you."

"And the people who matter to Blaine! Shouldn't my fiancee have a say in this?"

"You guys pretty much have all the same friends." Both Kurt and Carole gave him offended looks. "Am I wrong?"

Finn was making his way to the table. "About what?"

"Nothing," an irritated Kurt sat back in his seat. "Let's just get this over with."

"Okay," Carole looked at the first names. "Brad Murphy and wife."

Burt huffed. "Yeah, start with one of my friends."

"Burt!"

"I've known the guy for twenty years."

"You've never mentioned him before."

Burt fidgeted before admitting, "Well, I guess that's because I...haven't seen him in fifteen years." Carole gave him an eyebrow raise. "He friended me on the Facebook recently."

"How does he relate to Kurt?"

"I'm pretty sure they've met once."

"I honestly have never heard of a Brad Murphy," Kurt told them.

"Yeah, see," Carole crossed 'Brad Murphy and Wife' off of her list. "I think we can afford to remove them."

"Yeah, that's fair," Burt didn't put up a fight. "Who's next?"

"Allison Brennan."

"We can't cut her, she's family," Kurt noted.

"It wouldn't be all that bad if we 'accidentally' lost her address or something," Burt muttered.

"DAD!"

Carole was equally appalled. "Are you seriously going to talk that way about your _family_?"

"She's my late wife's estranged cousin," Burt explained. "Emphasis on the _strange_ part. She's always going through these weird 'life stages'. One time she was a hippie, next time she's a professional business type person, another time she was Amish, and last time I checked, she was in a cult. I wouldn't be surprised if 'The Supreme Master' doesn't let her use technology to communicate with the modern world."

"I'll put a question mark by her."

"That about sums her up. Who's next?"

Carole hesitated before reading off the next name. "Sue Sylvester."

"I'd say no, but I'm more afraid of what'll happen if she _wasn't_ invited. We could probably expect a _Sleeping Beauty_ type deal where she puts a curse on us."

Finn's face became one of panic. "Can she really do that?"

"No, Finn," Kurt replied. "She's not a witch."

"I beg to differ," Burt muttered under his breath.

"You don't have to worry about me inviting anyone," Finn spoke up. "Kurt and I pretty much have all the same friends. Everyone I care about is gonna be there."

"Was there a point to what you said?" the first response to Burt's question was a slap in the arm from his wife. "Ow!"

"I just thought you might like to know as a kind of comfort and junk. Make it sound like we'd save money, you know."

"Thank you Finn, that was a sweet gesture," Carole thanked. "Next on the list is...Miss Polly?"

Burt looked at Kurt. "Your third grade teacher?" Kurt nodded. "I'm glad she still holds a special significance for you, but-"

"You can cross her off the list," Kurt interrupted.

Carole looked at him. "Why? If you don't want her to come because of your father's attitude-"

"Miss Polly died last year."

Burt snapped his fingers. "Yes! Good!" Everyone gave him shocked looks. "Not about the death part; the crossing off the list part." He cleared his throat. "Who's next?"

Carole read the next name on the list. "Rachel; but we all know she would already be-"

"Are you telling me I have to pay for the one planning the wedding to actually come to the wedding? Aren't I paying enough for all her wedding planning needs?"

Kurt angrily rose. "Why don't we just charge people to come? That way you won't have to worry about the cost because you'll make back the money," he stormed to the basement. Carole gave Burt an upset look before following her stepson to the basement.

"Burt," Finn spoke.

"Yes, Finn?"

"Can you actually charge people to come to a wedding?" Burt couldn't help but feel guilty for inspiring that idea. "I'm asking because Puck and I wanna go to this music festival in Toronto and if we can make a few bucks off getting married then it's a win-win, right?" His eyes went wide. "Not getting married to each other! I meant two separate weddings; him and Quinn, me and Rachel."

"You and Rachel? Didn't you try to get married once?"

"Yeah, but lately she's kinda been hinting that she wants to have her own wedding, or at least get engaged 'cause it's illegal to have a wedding without getting engaged first. It's not enough that I _said_ I'd marry her, she wants the 'official' engagement, whatever that means."

"It's not illegal to have a wedding without being engaged first."

"Really?" Burt nodded. "I guess that explains why they have so many wedding chapels in Las Vegas." Burt couldn't help but chuckle at that. "But you didn't answer my question about charging people to come to a wedding: can people do that?"

"Yeah, but it's probably illegal."

...

"Kurt?" Burt had went down to the basement around 10:45 that night to give his son a formal apology, but Kurt had fallen asleep on the futon with a bridal magazine in his grasp. Curious, Burt picked up the magazine and viewed the page Kurt had fallen asleep reading.

_How to Give a Beautiful Wedding on a Small Budget_

When Burt read the title—plus a few of the tips out of curiosity—he came to a realization. He was being a complete asshole. This was his son's wedding and he was supposed to give his son everything that he wanted, not the other way around.

From that point on, Burt decided to shut up and go with the flow, expenses be damned.


	7. Breakdown of the American Public

Keeping his mouth shut was a lot harder than Burt had anticipated, but somehow he managed. There were a few instances where he wanted to say something, but he didn't. And he did this mainly for the sake of his son. So when said son instigated a family discussion that everyone was to buy a new outfit for the wedding, Burt didn't say anything—even though he felt buying a new outfit was unnecessary. He had to keep reminding himself all of this was for Kurt and that stress could bring back some former health issues.

"Does anyone have any problems with this?" even though this was directed to the whole family, everyone couldn't help but direct their attention to Burt.

"Well," there were huffs and groans and eye rolls before Burt could say two words, "I barely said anything! Just hear me out." They went quiet. "For starters, this is not a money issue. I just don't care for shopping. I always pick out what I think I like or whatever's comfortable and more often than not it's never good enough."

"I'll help you pick something," Kurt told him.

"You're busy enough planning for _your_ wedding. And why should I have to buy something for myself? What's wrong with the tuxedos I have?"

"You only have _one_ tuxedo, Dad."

Burt thought about what his son said. Turns out, he did only own one tuxedo. "So?"

"And you've uh…" Kurt tried to phrase this delicately, "…you've put on a little weight since the last time you wore it."

"The last time I wore it was in February."

"You wore a rental," Carole reminded.

"What?"

"You had to rent a tuxedo from that shop in Indiana because you accidentally left yours in Ohio. It has been a while since you wore the one Kurt's talking about."

"That don't mean the tux doesn't fit," Burt got up from his seat.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to prove it still fits," Burt marched to the closet in his bedroom, pulled out his tuxedo, and put it on. In all honesty, it was barely tight in one area, but nevertheless, the tuxedo appeared to fit. Proud as you please, Burt went back downstairs and modeled himself in the tuxedo to his family. "See," he did a small dance, "I can even dance in it."

"Please don't," Kurt pled.

There was a knock on the door. _It's obviously not Blaine_ , Burt was referring to Blaine never knocking anymore whenever he came over. "Are we expecting company?"

"Just Rachel and 'Cedes coming over to finalize all the wedding details and look over the house; decide how we should arrange everything."

"We just move the big furniture out of the room and leave some places to sit; what's there to arrange?"

...

Evidently, a lot of things had to go—this included _all_ of the living and dining room furniture. All Burt could do was stand there and listen to how Rachel was going to change everything. Also accompanying Rachel and Mercedes was Sam, who had been hired as a sort of cheap handyman. At one point, Rachel and Mercedes began to argue over who was going to sing at their wedding before Finn came up with the idea they do a duet.

Rachel was somewhat offended by this. "Whose side are you on?"

"Wouldn't it just be easier if Kurt's favorite girl friends sang him a song together?" Finn stressed the space between 'girl' and 'friends'. "That way you both get to sing. It's not about sides; it's about what's fair."

"It's not about you, it's about Kurt," Mercedes added her two sense.

Rachel gave a huff of surrender. "Fine, but I pick the song."

"Fine."

As this transpired, Sam began drilling holes in the ceiling. While the sound of the drill was enough to bring attention, the resulting sawdust that fell onto Burt's tuxedo brought the most attention to Burt. "Hey! You!" Sam stopped. "Yeah, what are you doing?"

"I dunno," that was reassuring, "Rachel says it has something to do with the lighting."

Burt tried not to drop his jaw. "Do you know what you're doing?"

Sam held up a manual. "Yup!" When he went back to drilling, Burt gave a nervous twitch. Afterwards, he went to the kitchen where Rachel had a whole nother topic of conversation.

"…but doves are more expensive and they have to come with a trainer," she was saying. "Swans are much more elegant and-"

" _Swans_?" did Burt hear correctly.

Kurt did the explaining. "Rachel thought it would be romantic to have two pairs of swans waddling around the tulip border."

"We don't have a tulip border."

"You will," Rachel seemed a bit smug when she said that. "And it's going to be beautiful!"

"Mr. H," Sam came into the kitchen, "can I get a little help moving the couch?" Burt's sigh came the closest to a yes. "I kinda misjudged where I needed to drill and it needs to go there," he pointed to a spot above the couch, "not there," he pointed to the spot where he had just finished drilling the hole.

By this point, Burt was trying so hard not to lose it. If he wasn't careful, something was gonna snap, and it was probably going to be him. Just as he thought things couldn't get any worse, there was a very loud rip as he bent down to lift the couch.

The rip being the tuxedo he was currently wearing. The only tuxedo he owned.

When Sam got a look at the big hole in the back of Burt's suit, he made a face. "Yikes. You probably shouldn't have worn a tux for lifting furniture."

Burt gritted his teeth as if he was suppressing a scream. "I didn't know I was going to be lifting furniture." Fearing Burt was going to snap, Sam backed away. "If you'll excuse me," Burt began walking away.

As he did, Blaine came in through the front door without knocking. "Hey Burt," Blaine greeted. "I'm not gonna be long; I just came to get my blazer. I think I left it in Kurt's room last night."

Burt gave no response and kept walking. "Mr. Hummel," Mercedes stopped him. "Queen Rachel over there wanted me to ask you about the number of parking attendants. I say five, but she's insisting on no less than ten."

"Two," was all Burt could utter.

Mercedes noticed how close to the brink of insanity he was. "Okay, I'll go tell Rachel."

"Burt!" now Finn was headed over to him.

"Two," Burt repeated.

"Uh…I don't think she can make dinner at two. Mom told me to ask you if you could go to the grocery store to get some dinner."

"Two."

"Maybe, I should-"

"Two," that was Burt's final word as he walked out the door. He needed to get out of the house and going for a drive was probably the best thing for him right now.

…

The drive didn't help. Standing in the store in a ripped, sawdust covered tuxedo, Burt was tearing open a bag of hot dog buns mumbling a series of nonsensical gibberish to avoid uttering offensive obscenities.

"Excuse me, Sir," the stockboy was somewhat apprehensive with approaching a crazy looking person, "what are you doing?"

Burt lifted a pack of hot dogs from his shopping cart. "Do you see this?" The stockboy nodded. "This is a pack of eight hot dogs." Burt held up the ripped open pack of hot dog buns. "This a pack of _twelve_ hot dog buns," he stretched out the number. "I only want to buy _eight_ hot dog buns to go with my eight hot dogs. However, no one sells eight hot dog buns; they only sell _twelve_. I see no point in paying for four extra hot dog buns I'm obviously not going to need and therefore am removing the unnecessary buns."

"Um, I don't think you can do that. You have to pay for all twelve buns; they're not marked individually."

"Of course they're not," Burt didn't realize he had caught the attention of the manager. "There's a perfectly logical reason for that: some big-shot at the wiener company got together with some big-shot from the bun company and decided to rip off the American public." Burt was letting out some ragged laughs. "Well they're not ripping off _this_ American! I am not paying for one more thing that I don't need. Burt Hummel is saying 'no'."

"Who's Burt Hummel?"

Burt just stared at the kid. "Okay, just go back to your minimum wage job. Get back to your shelf stocking. Go on."

The manager made her way over to him. "Sir," she was trying to be calm, "there is no need to make a scene."

"Who's making a scene?" Burt's voice was getting louder. "I'm just alerting the store of a crime against the American public!"

"Sir, if you don't calm down and pay for those hot dog buns then I have no choice but to call the police."

"Yeah?" Instead of responding by yelling, Burt kept his voice barely over a whisper. Then he frantically began tearing at the packs of hot dog buns. He then proceeded to knock items off of shelves and ram his shopping cart into display shelves and end-caps. He had finished demolishing a pyramid of cans of _Spam_ that were on sale when the police came and arrested him.

...

 _I couldn't have a nervous breakdown in the privacy of my own home_? Burt thought as he sat in a jail cell. _Shoulda just paid for the damn buns_. This was a visible low point. And it was so unlike him to do that. Since when did he become so irrational and nuts?

"Mr. Hummel," the officer interrupted his thoughts. "Your wife is here." The officer went to get her.

Burt stood up. "Hey, wait, aren't you gonna let me out of the cell?"

"She wants to talk to you first."

 _Well that can't be good_. "She wants to _talk_ to me first?"

Carole entered in what appeared to be a chipper mood. "Hello, Burt."

"Carole," he couldn't help but wonder if she was acting the way she was because she knew something like this was going to happen. "You look…happy."

"Happy?" Carole's laugh was obviously fake. "Oh, no. No, I'm not happy, Burt. You think I was happy to tell everyone that I had to come bail you out of jail for stealing _hot dog buns_?"

"I wasn't _stealing_ , I was-"

"Ah," she held up her hand to shut him up. Every time he tried to protest, she used this technique to get him to stop. "I'm going to ask you not to talk or I'm going to have to call for Officer What's-His-Name over there." That did the trick. Carole took a deep breath before continuing. "You have been more than a handful, Burt. Your son's wedding isn't any kind of conspiracy against you; it's just a wedding. A wedding not many people like your son get to have because of the way they choose to live and the people they choose to love. I don't know why you're making a huge deal over the expenses. It's not like we go to Europe, or own fancy cars, or expensive jewelry, and we don't live in the lap of luxury. We can afford to give your son the wedding he wants. The wedding he deserves. If we can pay for that, we can also afford to bail you out of jail for petty theft."

"Carole-"

"And I'll get you out only if you agree to the following."

"The following what?"

"For one thing you are going to stop telling every random person how much this wedding costs."

"I don't do that."

The cop cleared his throat. Carole turned to him. "He told you, right?" The cop responded with the price.

"Thanks," Burt sarcastically thanked.

"You are going to pull yourself together, cooperate with everybody, and be on your best behavior. I know you've been trying to go with the flow, but look where it's led you. And with every nervous tic, twitch, or aggravated sigh, or eye roll, you are taking away from your son's happiness. He can sense this Burt. He wants to be happy but you're preventing him from doing so because he thinks he's making you miserable; he feels responsible and it's killing him."

Burt fidgeted. "I didn't…I didn't really consider that."

"Could you agree to what I requested? Do you promise to do what I asked?"

Burt was honestly sincere when he nodded. "I promise."

"Good," Carole leaned in through the bars to give him a kiss. "Now let's go home."


	8. The Gift of Happiness

May 27th was Kurt's twenty-first birthday and Burt wanted to get his son something nice as a sort of 'sorry I went crazy about this wedding, I love you' type present. And when he bought his gift—on sale, but that wasn't really important—Burt was pretty pleased with himself…

…until he saw what Pam had gotten Kurt for his birthday.

Burt had spent the morning wrapping the gift in wrapping paper he knew would appeal to Kurt (complete with a bow) and when he came downstairs, no one was around. Carole was at work, Finn was more than likely with Rachel—who had decided to ease up on some of the more extravagant wedding plans for the sake of Burt's health and sanity—and Kurt was either in his room or in the basement.

"Blaine's here!" Kurt's yelling indicated he was in his room. This was further confirmed when Kurt ran down the stairs and out the door without so much as a hello to his father. Bewildered, Burt set the gift on the table and went outside to see what was so exciting about Blaine coming over this particular time. "So what's this big surprise?" Burt had heard Kurt ask his fiancée.

Blaine took Kurt's hands in his and swung them. "I thought I'd treat the birthday boy to his favorite breakfast before we go ring shopping." Kurt squealed in delight and wrapped his arms around Blaine. "Oh, but my Mom said she had something she wanted to give you for your birthday. I don't know what, but she asked if I could be here when she-"

*BEEP* *BEEP* Pam was pulling into the driveway in a brand new, cherry red, sports car—a 2015 Ford Mustang to be precise—with the top down. She excitedly got out of the car and began modeling next to it as the men looked at the car in awe. With a giggle, she hurried over to her future son-in-law, gave him a big hug, and handed him the keys. "Happy Birthday, Kurt!" she planted a kiss on each cheek.

"Is that…" Kurt couldn't form words. "…that car's for me?" Pam giggled as she nodded. "I…wow. Just, wow."

"Mom, you got him a car?" even Blaine was surprised. "Don't you think that's a little-"

Pam held her hand up. "Trust me when I say it's best that every married couple has at least two cars," she fast-walked back to the car. "I thought Kurt would appreciate red more than silver; it seemed more his style anyway."

"This car is for me?" Kurt still couldn't believe it. "My reward for existing for twenty-one years is _that_?"

"I'd say that's about twenty-one years' worth of presents."

"Thank you, Pam!" Kurt gave her another hug and sat in the driver's seat of his new car. "Dad, look at what Blaine's Mom got me!" he honked the horn.

"I see," Burt was trying to hide the disappointment in his voice. "It's real nice." After watching Blaine join Kurt in the car, Burt felt he wasn't needed and went back into the house. "She got him a _car_?" He stared at his carefully wrapped present on the table. "How's any gift gonna top a 2015 Ford Mustang?" When he heard someone come in the house, he tried to block the present.

"Dad," Kurt went over to Burt, "Blaine's gotta take his mom home and then we're going out."

"Okay, have fun."

Kurt noticed he was trying to hide something. "Is that for me?"

"What, this?" Burt stepped aside. "I just saw it at the mall and thought it'd be useful. It's not a big gift or anything, but I remembered that…" Burt trailed off before continuing with, "...I should probably put this away for later."

"Can I open it now?"

Burt shrugged. "If you want to," Kurt went to open the gift. "I can take it back if you don't want it or anything."

"Is this-" Kurt finished opening his present, "-it's a Cappuccino Maker!"

"I remember you saying you wanted one, but never really had the chance to buy it. But after seeing what Pam got you, I figured-"

Kurt embraced his father in a tight hug. "No, I love it; thank you."

"Are you just saying that to be nice? I mean she did get you a _brand new car_."

"It is a nice car, but I didn't really want a car. I'm happy riding around with Blaine in his. Sure, I'll drive that beauty around town to make everyone jealous," Burt chuckled at that, "but you put real thought into this gift. This showed that you listened to what I have to say and got me something I truly wanted."

"So you like it?"

"I love it," Burt kissed his father's cheek. "And I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Kurt."

…

As the weeks went on, more presents began to arrive. Most were nice, useful, practical gifts that Kurt and Blaine had asked for while the decorative, tacky _Venus de Milo_ clock from Kurt's cousin Allison had "accidentally" been broken by Kurt.

Wedding preparations were also underway. Burt had spent the first couple of weeks in June looking for a tuxedo, but wasn't having any luck finding one in his price range. One of his tire shop customers heard about Burt's dilemma and gave him the name of a guy who could give him a brand-name tux at a cheap price. Even though Burt seriously doubted this, he paid a visit to the guy.

Some time later, said guy showed up at Burt's shop. "Here you go Mr. H," he took the tuxedo out of the dry cleaner bag. "Looks gorgeous even on the hanger." He took out the suit. "And it's a genuine Giorgio Armani; the real deal. Don't ask me how I got it," that was a sketchy phrase, "but I got it," he helped get the suit on Burt. "Voila! You look like 4500 bucks."

"I'm guessing that's how much it's gonna cost me?"

But it was later that day that something even more amazing happened. "Dad, did you hear?" Kurt had greeted him at the door when he come from work. "It's legal!"

Burt hadn't heard and was hoping this wasn't about the guy who came in earlier with the tux. "What's legal?"

"Same-sex marriage; it's legal in all fifty states! So when we have the ceremony, it'll be real."

Burt was happy with the news. "Kurt, that's fantastic!" he hugged his son.

"Everything in my life is just so perfect right now. I have never been so happy. And now," he took a minute to compose himself, "I can marry the man I love and nothing and no one can stop me."

…

With exactly a month to go before the wedding, Carole became apprehensive when it started to rain on the ninth of July. "I don't like the looks of this."

"What's wrong with a little rain in summer?" Burt had asked "It's a good thing."

"And you don't think it's a bad omen or anything that it rains with exactly a month until the wedding?"

"A bad omen? Carole, where did you get that stupid-" he noticed the glare she was giving him. "You're probably reading too much into it."

"Just help me organize the presents," she guided him to a dining room full of presents. "We need to sort out who gave what and make sure it's all together. Could you make sure that tea set matches?"

Burt looked at the tea set. "Who gives a tea set as a wedding present to two men?"

"I'm sure Kurt and Blaine can find a use for it."

"Is that…" he gave closer inspection, "Carole I think is real silver. Our friends never got us anything this fancy when we got married." Burt heard the front door slam. Making his way into the house, was Kurt. "Hey, Kurt! Check this out," he held up the tea set, " _real_ silver." Burt then noticed Kurt's demeanor. "What's the matter?"

"Send it back," it looked like Kurt had been crying or was ready to start crying.

Burt exchanged a confused glance with his wife. "Do you have one like it or-"

"Dad, I'm not kidding! Send it back; send everything back. The wedding's off," with that Kurt stormed up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door shut.

"Burt?" Carole looked at him with concern. "What happened?"

"I dunno," Burt honestly had no idea. "You think it was something I did?"

"This time, I don't. Maybe one of us should go talk to him."

Burt set the tea set down. "I'll go," he volunteered.

"Maybe I should go," Carole opted to go instead, "I know you never really wanted this wedding to begin with, and you-"

"This isn't about what I want, Carole. It's about what my son wants; what makes _him_ happy. Right now, he's not happy and I think this is something that his father needs to fix." He headed up the stairs while Carole said a silent prayer.


	9. Blending Back Together

Burt tapped on the door before entering his son's room. "Kurt?"

A crying Kurt turned to his father. "I really don't want an 'I told you so' right now, Dad."

"I'm not here to gloat or anything. I just came up to see what I could do to help."

"I'm sorry, Dad, but I'm not gonna marry Blaine. And I feel so awful, especially after everything you've done." He let out a ragged breath. "Rachel is going to be pissed."

"She'll get over it eventually. And don't feel like this is your fault; people break off engagements all the time. Carole and I will take care of everything."

"How is it that after everything that's happened you can still be so understanding, and patient, and…" he flung himself into Burt's arms, "…I don't deserve a father like you."

"Yes, you do." Burt consolingly rubbed his back.

Kurt pulled away. "I'm sorry about my tears staining your shirt."

"Don't worry about it, Kurt." Kurt sniffled. "You wanna talk about what happened?"

Kurt let out a long breath before confessing what happened. "Blaine and I were talking about wedding gifts when he said he had one he wanted to give me because it was the ninth—which as you know Blaine and I met on a ninth." Another nod. "So I was thinking it would be something special or meaningful but he got me a…" Kurt trailed off.

"He got you a what?"

"He got me a blender."

"A _blender_?"

"Didn't we get enough stupid appliances from other people? Is he implying that he wants me to be the wife in the relationship? You know, stay home and make the husband happy. No, that is so not gonna happen. So I called him out on that. When he said it didn't really mean anything, I flipped out even more accusing him of being an insensitive asshole and not caring about our relationship because the gift meant nothing. Was he just buying it because he wanted a reward for remembering an anniversary? It touched back to the husband-wife implication and we got into a fight. At one point during the fight, Blaine told me I was being overdramatic—so then I assumed he was picturing me as one of those stereotypical gay men and I started yelling at him about _that_. After that he tells me to stop blowing everything out of proportion like I always do. He said when I get the way I was, I get all irrational and I don't think properly. Then he uses this _insane_ story he clearly made up as an example of why I act so irrational. So I threw the blender across the room, yelled we're done, and I came here. Just when everything's right he'll do something that makes me not want to trust him! Dammit, he had no right to bring you into our argument."

"Me?"

"Oh, the obviously fake example story was about you. I mean, that just made me even more mad that he would say what he said about my own _father_."

"What did he say?"

"He said it happened the day you and Carole went to visit his mom," Kurt didn't notice his father was getting nervous. "While we're fighting he accuses me of being just as irrational as you. I say 'leave my dad out of this, he is not irrational'. Then he proceeds to tell me the story where you and Carole go to meet Pam, you sneak off and begin snooping around the house where you find his mom's bankbook—well, no, actually first you broke a mirror in their bathroom, _then_ you found the bankbook and threw it in their pool. You would never do anything like that; why would he make up those lies about you?"

When there was a knock on the door, Burt practically jumped. "I'll get it," he tried to save himself from further humiliation.

On the other side of the door, was Carole. "Kurt, Blaine's downstairs."

"I don't want to see him," Kurt took no time in deciding that.

"He looks awful."

"Good."

"Why don't I…" Burt headed for the door, "…why don't I go and talk to him. Take him out for some lunch or something."

"Burt," Carole followed him trying to stop him. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. I don't need you getting arrested again."

"I'm not gonna do anything, Carole," Burt tried to assure her. "Believe me, I want to make him suffer, but I won't."

"I know you see this as the perfect opportunity to get rid of Blaine, but-"

"Could you please trust me? I'm just going to get his side of the story and relay all my information to my son in hopes of not spending a fortune cancelling this wedding."

…

"…because he likes to make those shakes and smoothies," Blaine was explaining to Burt over a quick fast food lunch. "I guess I can see why he would think that; people already consider him to be the woman in the relationship. But it never entered my conscious he would think like that."

"I believe you," were these words coming out of Burt's mouth?

"You do?" Burt nodded. "Wow, I can't believe it."

"Me either."

"I know you've been upset with me hurting Kurt before, and I don't blame you for that, but I just wanted to show my appreciation for him. He loved that cappuccino maker you gave him so that's how I got the idea to give him the blender; so he could make his favorite shakes and smoothies."

"That's a nice thought."

"Would you tell him this for me? Please."

This could have been the golden opportunity Carole was referring to earlier. Instead, Burt nodded and said, "Yeah, I'll tell him."

Blaine let out a breath he seemed to be holding. "Thank you. I know whatever you say he'll listen to."

Not only was Burt not getting rid of Blaine, he was about to talk him into staying. "Kurt is a very passionate person, you know. Passionate people tend to be overdramatic or irrational whenever they want something or whenever they're upset. Looking back on it, I think Kurt gets that from me. I know I try to be calm and level-headed all the time, but in those kinds of situations I mentioned I have been known to lose the ability to think clearly. It has to come from my side of the family, because his mother wasn't like that." He went on. "There is an upside: with that kind of passion comes great spirit and individuality."

"I think those are some of the things I love most about Kurt."

The phrase "like father, like son" rang through Burt's head. It was no wonder Kurt was marrying this guy: Burt had married not one, but two women who were similar to Blaine in personality and attitude. All of those couples had complimented each other. Both of Burt's marriages were successful, and now there was no doubt in his mind that Kurt and Blaine's would be as well.

They were a perfect match.

…

Kurt tried not to make it seem like he was waiting when Burt came up to his room later. "I can't believe you went out with him," were the first words Kurt had said to Burt when Burt came back. "What did he say?" Kurt held up his hand. "No, don't tell me. Was he begging? Did his tears fuel your energy?"

"First of all: both he and I want to make it clear that the blender was an anniversary gift for you to make those shakes and smoothies that you like. It wasn't supposed to imply anything; I had sort of inspired him to buy it after I got you the cappuccino maker."

Kurt quirked a brow. "And you believe that?"

"Completely. Blaine's downstairs now and he's the one who's heartbroken. Please go see him."

"I don't know, Dad. How can I trust him after what he told me about you?"

Burt blew out a breath and nervously rubbed his neck. "You're not gonna believe this," Kurt gave his father a funny look, "but that story he told you about me, and the bankbook, and the pool…" all Burt could do was make a guilty face and nod.

Kurt gasped. "No?"

"It's not one of my finer moments."

"Dad!" Burt said nothing and gestured for Kurt to go to Blaine. Before he did, Kurt gave his father a brief hug and headed to the stairs where Blaine was waiting. "Oh, Blaine!" he ran into his fiancée's arms.

"Kurt, I am so sorry about the blender," Blaine apologized.

"No, I'm sorry. This is all my fault, I did blow everything out of proportion," neither of them had noticed Burt standing a few feet behind them. "I should have believed you, but I didn't and I almost ruined everything. I'm just so glad my dad fixed everything."

"If it wasn't for your dad, I might have never seen you again. I can't live without you."

"I can't live without you either. I love you."

"I love you."

The re-engaged lovers engaged in a passionate makeout session. "I uh," Burt cleared his throat to get attention, "I guess everything's okay now?" He still went unnoticed. Burt awkwardly looked around for a moment hoping there would be some point where they could move out of the way and he could go downstairs. But nope. He pointed upwards. "I'm just gonna…" he headed up the stairs while still remaining unnoticed, "…yeah."


	10. Holding On and Letting Go

"Left together, right together," Finn was repeating to himself as he practiced walking up and down the hall. "No wait," whenever he messed up/thought he messed up, he restarted. "Left together, right together." Keeping his eyes on his feet, he narrowly avoided bumping into Burt. "Oh, sorry Burt," Finn started over.

"Are you practicing walking?" Burt inquired.

"Yeah," Finn admitted. "I sometimes get my left and right mixed up and I wanna make sure I get it right for the wedding."

"You're the best man; you're just standing there behind Blaine."

"But before that, Blaine's brother and I have to walk our Moms down the aisle." Burt had forgotten about that part. "I know I go second, but I still don't wanna mess up and embarrass everyone, especially Mom, so I wanna get it right. But when I think I have it right, I kinda doubt myself, you know."

"Maybe you just need someone to practice with," Burt linked his arm around Finn. "Try this without looking at your feet. And when you start it's actually _right_ together, left together," he and Finn pretended to walk down the aisle until Finn was sure he had it down pat. "Hey Finn, listen: I'm sorry if your mom and I have been preoccupied with this wedding and not paying any attention to you."

"It's cool, I totally get it. And it's not like I've been ignored or anything. If anyone should apologize for ignoring me, it's Rachel. But once this wedding is over, everyone can chill out and I guess things will go back to normal." They both turned looked toward Kurt's bedroom.

" _I'm getting married in the morning_ ," Kurt was heard singing as he finished packing up his room. Less than twenty-four hours from getting married and Kurt always found the perfect opportunity to sing showtunes.

"Are you upset that he didn't ask you to officiate his wedding?" Finn's query caught Burt off guard a bit.

"I guess I didn't really think about that," Burt admitted. "Don't get me wrong, it would've been…nice—for lack of a better word—to officiate my son's wedding. In all honesty, I can't be too bummed; fathers usually don't get to officiate their own kids' wedding. Besides, I look at it as Kurt wanting me to sit front row for another major show he's in."

"Wow, I'll have to use that analogy with Rachel sometime." This made Burt chuckle. "Anyway, thanks again for teaching me to walk."

 _Choose your wording carefully, Finn_. "No problem. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, Burt," after Burt turned toward his room, Finn stood in Kurt's doorway. "Hey Kurt," Kurt looked at his stepbrother, but Finn's breath hitched and he had trouble finding the words to say. "It's gonna be weird not having you here all the time."

Kurt smiled in understanding. "I'm gonna miss you too, Finn."

The brothers hugged before Finn headed for his bedroom. "Night, Kurt, love ya."

"I love you too, Finn."

Touched, Burt placed his hand over his heart and went into his bedroom.

…

Was there really point in getting any sleep? Carole, sure, Carole was a pretty heavy sleeper and usually whenever she was excited for something, she would get as much sleep as she could to rest up for whatever she was excited for. But Burt? Not so much. Anticipation for the upcoming wedding and reception was a factor in keeping him awake. The other reason? Every time Burt closed his eyes, visions of his son throughout various years of his life would appear; the most recent images showing his son and his son's almost spouse.

A noise outside made Burt blink back into focus. When he heard it again, he decided to get up and investigate. Honestly, he wouldn't have been surprised if it was Rachel sneaking back to finish some last minute decorations (she had done that a few days before). Instead he was surprised to see his non-athletic son playing basketball of all sports. Kurt was by himself, in the driveway, tossing baskets into the basketball hoop Burt had bought for him and Finn a few years ago. Kurt wasn't all that good either; but then again, sports never were his thing.

Kurt threw the ball, it missed, and when it bounced back, Burt took it. "Dad?" Burt tossed the ball and caught it. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I couldn't sleep," he passed the ball to Kurt.

"Me neither," Kurt threw the ball at the hoop, and missed.

"Why are you-"

"You always seem tired after you play a few rounds with Finn. I thought maybe it'd make me tired enough to get at least a couple hours of sleep. I need my beauty rest, I am getting married later."

"So I heard."

"Dad, I heard what Finn asked you in the hall earlier about not officiating the wedding. Are you sure you're not upset that Mr. Schuester's going to marry me and Blaine?"

"I'm sure. At least I get to walk you down the aisle."

"That you do."

"And in all honesty, I don't know if I'd be able to keep it together if I was the one who officiated." Kurt bit his lip. "So," Burt was about to change the subject, "what's keeping you up? Is it wedding jitters?"

"No, I guess I'm just excited."

"Is that all?"

It seemed like Kurt had more to add to that. "While I was in bed, I couldn't stop thinking about how this was my last night here in my house. This was the house I spent my whole life in and now…" unable to complete the thought, he let out a ragged breath.

"It's always gonna be your house. You're welcome here anytime."

"I know, I know; but I was also thinking how this is kind of my last night of youth before I go out into the world of adulthood. The last night I can really lean on my dad for support."

"That's not true either," Burt took his son in his arms and rubbed his back consolingly. "I'm always gonna be here for you, no matter what."

"I know, but it feels that way." He backed away. "I also never realized how much of a pack rat I was. There was just so much I didn't know I'd held on to: ratty stuffed animals, all of my yearbooks, my magic tricks, puzzles with missing pieces, and even my old retainer. So I packed 'em all."

"Really?"

"A part of me didn't want to let go." He sighed. "I know I can't stay…" he paused, "…but I don't want to leave either. It's a little hard for me to explain."

"No, I completely understand." When Burt felt something fall atop his bald head, he looked up. Immediately after Kurt looked up, the rain began pouring down.

"It's raining!"

"You always did like the rain in summer." They continued to stand out there. "Do you think it's a sign or anything? You know 'cause it's raining on your wedding day." It was after midnight after all.

"Yeah," Kurt held his hands out to catch raindrops. "I think this is Mom's way of telling me that everything's gonna be okay." After catching a few raindrops on his tongue, Kurt noticed the expression on his father's face. "What? What is that face?"

"I was just thinking."

"Of the damage this is gonna do to everything? How this is going to end up costing you more money?"

"No," Burt smiled. "How I'll remember this moment for the rest of my life." He held out his arms and Kurt flung himself into them.

And they stood there clinging to each other in the pouring rain not wanting to let go. But they knew they had to, and eventually they did—mostly at Kurt's insistence that they get inside before they get sick.

"Rachel's going to be pissed," Burt noted as he and his son walked arm-in-arm inside the house.

With a shrug, Kurt simply stated. "She'll get over it."

"Eventually," they finished together.


	11. The Wedding

_August 9th, 2015_

The big day was here and despite some minor hang-ups as a result a little nighttime rainfall, everything seemed to be running on schedule.

Key words ' _seemed to_ '.

"NO!" A frantic Rachel was still coordinating some last minute people she hired to help prepare for the reception. "That can't go there; it clashes with the color scheme."

"Okay Girl," Maid of Honor Mercedes pulled her aside, "time to practice our deep breathing exercises."

"I'm calm," Rachel lied. "We're just six and a half minutes behind schedule, but I'm calm."

"Hey Rachel," Burt was buttoning his tuxedo when he came over to her, "I know you like to carry them emergency fashion kits and I was hoping one of them had some thread for this tux."

"Sorry Mr. Hummel, I only have black thread."

"This is a black tuxedo."

"It's actually navy blue."

Even Mercedes nodded in agreement. "Though to be fair, it can look black in the right lighting."

Burt looked over the sleeves of his suit. "The guy who sold it to me said it was Armani." Burt came to the obvious realization. "Armani doesn't make blue tuxedos, do they?"

"Nope, sorry Mr. H."

"Armani also doesn't make Polyester," Rachel added.

"So you're telling me I'm wearing a blue, non-Armani, Polyester tuxedo that I paid 4500 bucks for?"

"Burt, relax," when everyone heard Carole's voice they turned to see her coming down the stairs in a beautifully elegant outfit. Burt was wearing a proud, yet lovesick smile as he went to the bottom of the stairs to meet her. Years from now he might not be able to remember what she was wearing, but he would never forget how beautiful she looked. "You still look handsome."

"Do I?"

"Always."

"It's not fair to Kurt that you're the sexiest person at his wedding."

"Liar."

"Well, you are to me anyway."

"Oh, thank you," they kissed each other.

*BEEP* "Great, the cars are finally here!" Rachel alerted everyone. "Okay here's how this is going to work: we're gonna…" she began looking around, "…where's Finn?"

"Check it out," Finn was coming down the stairs with a whole nother look, "Blaine's not gonna be the only one with his hair gelled." He got no immediate verbal response, though everyone had different, unreadable, expressions on their faces. "It doesn't look weird or anything, does it?"

"No, it just looks different," Carole assured. "It's just unusual for us to see you with your hair gelled."

"It was actually Puck's idea. Granted he was being mean-spirited when he said we should make ourselves look gay for the gay wedding, but we figured we'd all try something different. Actually, I don't think Puck was trying to be _that_ mean it just came out that way because he-"

"Hold up," Mercedes interrupted, "Mr. Mohawk's gonna have his hair gelled?" The image made her laugh. "Oh, this I gotta see."

"And we will," Rachel reminded. "As I was saying: there are two cars outside. You, me, Finn, and Mrs. Hummel will be riding in the first car and Kurt and Mr. Hummel will take the second. Come along people, we are nearly ten minutes behind schedule!"

Everyone made a mad dash for the door, "Burt," Carole stopped him, "we're taking the first car you and Kurt _follow_."

"Right, we follow!" Burt backed away from the door and started sprinting up the stairs. "Kurt!" he called his son's name once before knocking on Kurt's door. "Kurt?"

"I'm ready, come on in," Kurt called from the other side of the door. Burt opened the door to the sight of his son standing in front of three large mirrors doing some last minute preening. Kurt was wearing a white tuxedo and while it wasn't really his style, he looked damn good in it. "I know white isn't really my thing but…" he twirled around for his father, "…it still works, right?"

"It works perfectly." Kurt breathed out a sigh of relief. "Come on," Burt clapped his hands together and headed out the door, "let's get this show on the road."

"Really Dad," Burt turned around to face his son, "a blue tuxedo?"

…

"We're here!" Kurt announced to everyone waiting in the back of the venue (a very classy reception hall that was both available and had air conditioning). Aside from his father (who came with him) the people waiting included his stepmother, his future mother-in-law, his future brother-in-law, his stepbrother/Best Man, his Maid of Honor/wedding singer, his wedding planner/bridesmaid/wedding singer, the groomsmen (Artie, Sam, Mike, Puck, and Cooper), the bridesmaids (Brittany, Santana, Tina, Quinn, and Rachel), the flower girl (Beth), the ring bearer (Daniel), and Coach Beiste, leaning against the closed entrance doors in a tuxedo-like coaching outfit, was the usher.

As everyone clamored to compliment Kurt, Finn went over to Burt. "Check it out," he held out his hands. Written on the palm of his right hand was ' _left together, right together_ '. On the back, he had labeled ' _L_ ' and ' _R_ ' on the respective hands. "Turns out you and Kurt do 'right together, left together' but everyone else is the other way around, I asked. But thanks to my cheat sheet—er cheat _hands_ —now I'm not gonna forget."

"Good thinkin', Finn," Burt patted Finn's back.

Kurt wasn't quite sure how to react when he saw his stepbrother's hairstyle. "Oh my God, what did you and Puck do to your hairs?"

A loud whistle from Beiste diverted the attention toward the doors. "Listen up, people!" Beiste was handling this wedding like a coach at a football game. "When I call your pairs—which will be in alphabetical order—line 'em up girls on the left, boys on the right. Cooper and Mrs. Anderson. Hudson and Mrs. Hummel. Abrams and Pierce," Beiste addressed the former students by their last names. "Chang and Cohen-Chang. Evans and Lopez. Fabray and Puckerman. Berry and mini-Schuester," Rachel would be carrying Daniel Schuester down the aisle because not only did she need a male pair, but Daniel was an easily distracted toddler and often needed to be looked after so he didn't attempt to eat the rings off the pillow. "Jones. Miss Beth. And finally, Hummel and Hummel."

Before lining up, Quinn smoothed out her daughter's dress. "Do it just like you did at the rehearsal yesterday, okay." Beth shyly nodded and her mother rewarded her with a kiss on the cheek. "You look so pretty, Bee."

"Hey Monkeyface," Puck knelt to his daughter's level, "you got this," wearing the same dopey smile as her father, Beth gave him an enthusiastic high-five. He tousled her hair. "That's my girl."

"Seriously Puck, I spent two hours doing her hair."

"Can't look any worse than mine."

Meanwhile, Daniel was doing an antsy little dance trying to keep focus when he noticed how shiny the rings on the pillow were. As he reached for one, Mercedes stopped him. "Don't eat the shiny things, little man," she took a sandwich baggie of Cheerios from her dress pocket and gave Daniel a handful. "These rings you can eat."

"Chee-os!" Daniel shoved the cereal in his mouth before Rachel picked him up. "Num num?" He offered her the remainder of what was left in his tiny hand.

"No thank you," Rachel gently declined as she went over to her boyfriend. "Finn," Finn stopped messing with his suit long enough to look at his girlfriend, "I'm saying this because I love you: when we get married, don't gel your hair."

Finn cocked a brow. "Is this your way of proposing to me?"

"Why would I need to propose: we're already engaged."

"Wait, we are?"

"No time for chit-chat, we got a wedding to get goin'," Beiste reprimanded before everyone was in formation. "Okay people, game time." Beiste opened the doors and stood aside as The Warblers began performing _Pachelbel's Canon_ acapella. Guiding people when to go, Beiste was quietly instructing, "Left together, right together." After Cooper and Finn led their mothers to their front row seats, they took their places at the altar where a smiling Will Schuester was waiting behind an anxious looking Blaine—who was dressed in a black tuxedo with his warbler emblem on the pocket.

Burt watched as everyone seemed to effortlessly make their way down the makeshift aisle toward the miniature stage at the end of the room. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it was nearing his turn to walk his son. Something he had been dreading for the past couple of months.

Or more accurately, the past twenty-one years.

When he thought it was his cue, Burt was about to take a step, but Kurt gave him a gentle nudge. "Slow your roll, Cowboy."

 _How can you be so calm?_ Burt internally questioned as he looked at his son. As he looked, he couldn't help but notice the smile on Kurt's face. He had never seen his son so happy.

The beginning of the acapella Wedding March was enough of a distraction to get Burt to face forward. "'Kay, Dad," Kurt whispered after the guests had stood up.

Together, Burt and Kurt began walking down the aisle. The two of them looked forward while everyone else had their eyes on the "bride" and the father. Keeping their eyes solely on each other, Blaine and Kurt's smiles seemed to get bigger and brighter the closer Kurt (and Burt) got toward the end. Once they reached the end, Burt unlinked his arm and joined Kurt's hand with Blaine's before sitting in the front next to Carole. When they sat, Burt reached for her hand and held it the entire time.

"Dearly beloved," Will began, "we're gathered here today to witness the union of Blaine Devon Anderson and Kurt Elizabeth Hummel," there were a few quiet snickers at that (including from Finn and Puck). "I'm obligated to ask if anyone has any objection to this union, speak now or forever hold their peace." Naturally, no one spoke. "Blaine, Kurt, I understand each of you have written their own vows." Will gestured for Kurt to speak first.

Kurt took a deep breath and took both of Blaine's hands in his. "Blaine, I'm a man who's always lived in the shadows and everyone who's come into my life has always tried to pull me out into the sun or push me back into the darkness. And then you came along. You don't ask me to come out of the shadows; you help me rip away anything that's blocking the sun. Now it's time for the two of us to walk into the sunshine together…forever…is that something you want to do?" With a chuckle, Blaine nodded. "I'm kinda nervous, sorry."

Blaine gently rubbed Kurt's hands. "Don't be sorry."

Kurt gave a look to Will that signified he was done. Afterwards, Will gestured to Blaine. "Blaine?"

Blaine nodded and began his vows. "I honestly thought that I would never find real love, and then you came along. And even if someone told me that it wasn't going to work out, and then at the end of all our struggling and all of our work it would just end in heartache, I still would've said yes to you. A thousand times, yes. You and I are both a work in progress, but together…" he tried not to choke up, so Kurt gently rubbed his hands, "…together we're complete." When he was done, he gestured to Will.

"That was beautiful guys," he softly stated before looking toward Kurt. "Repeat after me: I, Kurt Hummel…"

Kurt fixated his gaze back to Blaine. "I, Kurt Hummel…"

"…take you, Blaine Anderson…"

"…take you, Blaine Anderson…"

"…to be my lawful wedded spouse…"

"…to be my lawful wedded spouse…"

"…to love and to comfort from this day forward."

"…to love and to comfort from this day forward."

Will turned to Blaine. "I, Blaine Anderson…"

Blaine began to repeat, "I, Blaine Anderson…"

"…take you, Kurt Hummel…"

"…take you, Kurt Hummel…"

"...to be my lawful wedded spouse…"

"…to be my lawful wedded spouse…"

"…to love and to comfort from this day forward."

"…to love and to comfort from this day forward."

Will craned his neck toward Rachel and Daniel. "The rings please."

Rachel put Daniel down and nudged him toward his father. "Go see Daddy," she whispered with a smile as Daniel toddled to his father.

"Here Da," he held the pillow the rings as high as he could toward Will.

Will laughed, took the pillow from Daniel, and gave him a kiss before telling him to go back to Rachel. Facing forward again, Will held the pillow with the rings between Blaine and Kurt so that each of them could take a ring. He looked at Kurt again. "With this ring, as a token of my love and affection, I thee wed."

"With this ring, as a token of my love and affection, I thee wed," Kurt repeated before sliding the ring on Blaine's finger.

Will turned to Blaine. "With this ring, as a token of my love and affection, I thee wed."

"With this ring, as a token of my love and affection, I thee wed," Blaine copied the words verbatim before he slid the ring onto Kurt's finger.

Will clapped his hands together. "And with that I now pronounce you husband and husband," he had become more excited as he came to the end of that announcement and had subsequently gotten everyone else excited that everybody was cheering and applauding when Will allowed Kurt and Blaine to kiss each other. When the now married couple kissed, the cheers and applause (and swoons) got louder. Once they pulled apart and headed up the aisle, Kurt momentarily stopped in front of his father, mouthed 'thank you', and smiled widely before continuing up the aisle with his husband.

Burt had stood corrected: _that_ was the moment he'd seen his son the happiest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The movie didn't include vows. I took out the 'who gives this woman' part and replaced them w/ vows. I think this works better by far. These are the actual vows from the wedding episode (season 6, episode 8 'A Wedding'), but I had to make a couple of minor tweaks to fit only one couple and because Blaine hardly said anything.


	12. A Reason to Be Missed

"PARTY TIME!" most of the groomsmen had yelled at the reception hall before everyone headed for the Hummel house.

Burt, however, couldn't really get in the party mood. It's not that he wasn't in a good mood or anything, but Burt had to play host. He was going around the incredibly crowded house welcoming people to his home, getting complimented on a nice wedding, and making sure nothing of his got broken. Burt barely had any room to breathe let alone party the house had never been so full.

"Burt!" Pam was making her way over to Burt with a glass of martini in her hands. "Come say hi," she led him to an unfamiliar set of people and went around introducing them. "Everyone, this is Kurt's dad, Burt. He's the one who flew you out here."

"Hi, glad you could make it," Burt was intending to shake everyone's hands, but Blaine's family were huggers—particularly Blaine's large Aunt Nora who managed to lift Burt off the ground in a series of grateful hugs. "Hope you're all having a good time," Burt excused himself hoping he could find his son, whom he hadn't seen since everyone left the reception hall.

"And I was just like…" Cooper was doing some sort of demonstration of his acting to a new set of fans when Burt came over to him. "Oh hey Mr. H; great wedding!"

"Thanks, have you seen Blaine?" Burt figured Blaine's brother would probably know where Blaine was and wherever there was Blaine, there was Kurt.

"I think he and Kurt are getting their picture taken. Hey, when's dinner; I'm gettin' hungry."

"You and me both, Coop." Knowing where the pictures were being taken, Burt went to the window that could overlook the photographer and tapped on it to get Kurt's attention (to no avail).

A very loud whistle silenced the house. The whistle had been blown by Coach Beiste. "DINNER'S IN THE TENT!" Rachel did a great job choosing Beiste to help keep everything running and get everyone's attention. Never before had a line for food formed so fast with Burt at the end of it. Polite as you please, Burt didn't bother cutting towards the front despite it being his house. _Some things are worth the wait_ , he kept thinking to himself as the line moved somewhat quicker than expected.

But just as he entered the tent to eat, Finn sprinted in calling his name. "Burt! There's some cops out front."

"Cops?" Finn was pulling Burt outside before Burt could even comprehend what Finn had told him.

Puck was standing outside and holding his hands up in defense by the time Burt came out. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it."

"Excuse me," the policeman approached them, "is this your house?"

Burt pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yeah, you, in the blue tux."

 _Dammit_. "Yes."

"Do you have a permit for parking all these cars in the street?"

So that was something he forgot to get. "No," he looked toward the two exhausted parking attendants. _I probably should have hired more of those guys_. "It's my son's wedding and-"

"I'm letting you off with a warning this time. You have a half hour before the fire marshal makes his way over here."

"How am I supposed to get all these cars out of the street in that time limit? What am I supposed to do with them?"

"I don't care what you do with them; just have them off the street in the next thirty minutes or you will get fined."

"Thanks for the warning, Officer, I'll have it taken care of," the officer left.

"Rachel said you should've gotten more parking attendants," Finn pointed out.

Burt looked at Finn and Puck. "Looks I just found me some."

...

Inside the tent, Kurt was looking for his father. "Carole," he went to his stepmother, "Carole, I can't find Dad anywhere. Have you seen him?"

"No," Carole replied. "You'd figure he wouldn't miss an opportunity for a meal."

"I was hoping I could have a father-son dance before I go, but how can I do that without my father?"

"He can't be too far."

"I'm gonna go look for him."

"Good luck," Carole gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and watched him leave to find his father. "Burt, where are you?"

...

Burt dodged the car Finn was trying to park as the tires screeched loudly. "Geez, Finn!"

"Sorry, Burt!" Finn apologized. "I was never really good at parallel parking."

Puck got out of a car he effortlessly parallel parked. "Years of video game skills come in handy."

"That and you used to carjack people when you were in middle school," as the boys went for more cars, Finn heard Puck's pockets jingle. "Quit stealing people's loose change."

"How else are we gonna get paid for this?"

As Burt got into another car, his phone rang. For a second, he forgot he even had it with him. "Hello?"

" _Burt_ ," it was Carole, " _Burt where are you_?"

"Trying not to get fined for parking over a hundred cars on the street," he explained as he started a car.

" _Kurt's been looking for you. He was hoping the two of you could dance_."

"Kurt actually wants to dance with me?"

" _It's a special thing for him, Honey. And I wanna dance with you too._ "

"Yeah, I know, but I have to do this first."

" _You're not gonna have much time. Kurt told me he and Blaine are leaving for the airport in the next fifteen minutes_."

"Me and the guys are almost done and we'll be right in."

" _Try to hurry_ ," Carole hung up.

With a sigh, Burt put his phone into his pocket. There was no way he was going to miss saying goodbye to his son.

…

It had taken a little less than ten minutes, but the guys finished parking the cars and headed into the tent where different sets of females were waiting for them. An angry Rachel was mad at Finn for missing her sing and not dancing with her after, a relieved Quinn was glad to see Puck was still there and not causing trouble, and Beth was just happy to see her father. But no one seemed to be waiting for Burt. He didn't see Carole, and Kurt wasn't in the tent.

"Mercedes," Burt stopped Mercedes as she passed him, "where's Kurt?"

"He and Blaine went to change for their trip to the airport," she informed him. "Apparently Kurt bought a bouquet to toss because he's always wanted to toss one and watch other desperate singles fight over some flowers."

"Did Carole go with him?"

"I think she's looking for you."

Another loud whistle from Beiste brought on silence. "HEY!" once again, Beiste secured the attention. "Everyone head for the bottom of the stairs where Kurt's gonna throw a bouquet before leaving for his honeymoon."

"Gotta go get me a good spot," Mercedes rushed past Burt, nearly knocking home over. He did stumble a bit, but when he regained his footing, he got lost in a large crowd of people heading inside.

Burt had an idea. "Back door!" While everyone was heading for the living room, he'd go into the house through the back door. "Excuse me," he struggled to make his way through the crowds heading for the living room. He fast-walked into the house, but then had to make his way through the kitchen where all the caterers were thus making his shortcut a little longer.

 _I'm not going to miss this_.

…

Dressed in casual suits, Kurt and Blaine made their way down the stairs holding hands like they were a royal couple. They basked in the applause and cheers from the guests and Kurt took a couple of seconds to scan the crowd. "Where's my Dad?"

"I haven't seen him all night," Blaine admitted. "You wanna wait for him?"

"We have to leave now if we want to make it to the airport."

"Sorry, Kurt."

Kurt plastered a smile on his face. "Fight for it, bitches!" he turned around and tossed the bouquet.

And who should catch it, but Finn. Granted it was an accident, but he still caught it (much to Rachel's excitement). "What am I supposed to do with this?"

After that, Kurt and Blaine came running down the stairs and all of the guests headed outside tossing rice and confetti at the couple. Before following them, Carole stood near the stairs and let out a sad sigh. "He missed it."

When the room was pretty much cleared, that's when Burt had made it. By the time he hurried outside, the limo carrying Kurt and Blaine had just taken off, a sizable crowd of friends and family gathered around the limo waving goodbye.

Kurt was gone and Burt was too late to say goodbye.


	13. Epilogue

Hours after everything had been said and done, an exhausted Burt and Carole sat alone in a big, empty, messy house to enjoy the peace and quiet. The guests had gone, Finn was spending the night with Rachel, and Burt internally debated about calling a cleaning crew in the morning. Still, it was also a sort of quiet celebration that everything was over.

"It's funny how empty a house can suddenly get, isn't it?" Burt's observation broke the silence. "One minute you're claustrophobic the next..." he gestured to the emptiness of the house. "...this."

Carole nodded in agreement. "It's going to be a lot more quiet around here."

"Sure is."

"I'm sorry you didn't get to say goodbye to him, Burt."

"That's alright, I'll get over it."

"For what it's worth, I don't think I've ever seen your son happier."

"I just would've liked to have _seen_ him."

"You're not still upset about this wedding are you?"

"I know it was insanely expensive, but it was worth it."

"You're gonna look back on all of this with great affection and nostalgia."

"Yeah, yeah."

"But I was actually referring to Blaine. In the beginning, you weren't exactly thrilled that your son was going to marry him."

"No, I like Blaine. Really, I do. I can't imagine my son with anyone else but him."

"I don't think anybody can."

"They're going to be happy right? I mean, that's really what's important."

"I think they're going to be _very_ happy."

"Good." The silence was disrupted by Burt's phone. "I keep forgetting I have this with me," he looked at the caller ID and his face broke into a grin. He answered the call with an excited, "Kurt?"

" _Hi Dad_ ," Kurt sounded just as excited to talk to him.

"Are you in Massachusetts already?"

" _Ugh, we haven't even left Ohio. There's some stupid technical error and our flight's about to board now. I would've called earlier, but no one could get any call service so Blaine and I spent the time planning out what we're going to do. We're about to board and my phone's pretty much dead, but I wanted to call you right before I left_."

"I'm glad you did."

" _I know I have to go, but I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. And Dad, I can not thank you enough for today...for everything."_

"It was more than worth it Kurt. I'm gonna let you go so you can have a great honeymoon. Thanks again for calling."

_"Dad."_

"Yeah?"

 _"I love you. I love you so much._ "

"I love you too," Kurt was the first to hang up. When Burt hung up, he turned to Carole. "That was Kurt."

"I had a feeling it was," of course she knew what was going on.

"You know," Burt was heading towards the stereo in the living room, "I was kinda bummed that I didn't get to say goodbye to my son, but now I did."

"I guess he saved the most important goodbye for last."

He put a CD in. "There is one more thing I didn't do that I really wanted to."

"And what's that?"

He started the song. It was a cover of the song ' _The Way You Look Tonight_ ' from an collection of wedding songs on an album Rachel had loaned his son (and seemed to forget about). "I didn't get to dance with my wife." He extended his hand for her to take. "I think we need to fix that."

Carole smiled as she accepted his hand. "I believe you're right." They began to dance. "No Mellencamp?"

"I figured we'd dance to something a little more romantic," he began to sing along. " _I will feel a glow_ _just thinking of you, and the way you look tonight_."

Carole laughed. "You can be quite the romantic, Burt Hummel."

"Yeah, well don't go spreading it around town."

"I think I'll keep this romantic side of you to myself."

"Good," he twirled her, "because you're the only one who'll get to see it." She let out another laugh. "I love you."

"I love you too."

And they danced among the big, empty, messy house in a quiet celebration of their love.


End file.
